Picture books about two foxes in Foxland
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Meet Richie Preketzian
And now to meet the other star of our story...
Richard Preketzian, better known as "Richie" for short, is the other protagonist of our story. Richie is 8 years old and lives with Hilda in her spacious mansion. Richie is just like any other little boy - he goes to school, he plays sports (he loves soccer) and he likes playing video games.
Because Hilda has so much money, Richie can have anything he wants likes toys, electronic gadgets, fantastic trips. In spite of this, Hilda will set limits and say "no" to Richie if she has to.
Richie has been taught the basics of etiquette too by Hilda as she is a proper lady herself. While he is casual with Hilda (referring to her by her first name), he has been taught to address adults as "Mister", "Ms", "Lady", "Lord" and so forth.
Richie often accompanies Hilda to social functions like balls, dinners, parties, etc. While he dresses casually, he does have suits and fine clothes he'll wear for special occasions. Richie doesn't like wearing them but won't complain since he cares a lot for Hilda.
Richard Preketzian, better known as "Richie" for short, is the other protagonist of our story. Richie is 8 years old and lives with Hilda in her spacious mansion. Richie is just like any other little boy - he goes to school, he plays sports (he loves soccer) and he likes playing video games.
Because Hilda has so much money, Richie can have anything he wants likes toys, electronic gadgets, fantastic trips. In spite of this, Hilda will set limits and say "no" to Richie if she has to.
Richie has been taught the basics of etiquette too by Hilda as she is a proper lady herself. While he is casual with Hilda (referring to her by her first name), he has been taught to address adults as "Mister", "Ms", "Lady", "Lord" and so forth.
Richie often accompanies Hilda to social functions like balls, dinners, parties, etc. While he dresses casually, he does have suits and fine clothes he'll wear for special occasions. Richie doesn't like wearing them but won't complain since he cares a lot for Hilda.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Meet Hilda Otejekker
I believe introductions are in order. Let's meet the stars of this children's picture book.
Hilda Otejekker is a 20-year-old vixen who resides in the European micro-state known as Foxville.
Hilda is a very rich woman. Her family, the Otejekkers, are a very old family known for their wealth. How rich is Hilda? We are talking Scrooge McDuck levels of wealth. She has no day job but puts her vast wealth to work for her with all sorts of investments like stocks, bonds, commodities, index funds and so on.
Hilda's home is a giant mansion with many rooms as well as all kind of amenities like huge gardens, a tennis court, stables with horseback riding, a big library with vast bookshelves, a grand ballroom and even an indoor swimming pool (something Richie enjoys).
Hilda is the legal guardian of Richie. She is not related to Richie, by blood or by marriage. She pretty much provides all his needs - food, clothing, healthcare, shelter and so on. That's no problem considering her vast wealth.
Hilda is responsible for Richie, but tends to behave more like a friend than as a parent. Of course, if the situation calls for it, Hilda will pull rank.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Dedications and Thanks
I have a number of people and entities to thank out there. So without further delay, let's get to that.
I'd like to thank my mentors at the School of Visual Arts - namely the three men known as Tom Motley, Matt Madden and Tom Hart.
More thanks go out to the following:
Andrew Chang, for teaching me to use water soluble paints
Shelley Haven, whose painting classes taught me the practical use of colors
The Fargo Public Library of Cass County, North Dakota, where much of my research was done and where I read books about how to create a children's picture book
The State of North Dakota
My fans and followers of Sunnyville Stories and all my other creative works
The inventors of iced coffee, a wonderful concoction that helps keep me creative
Richard Scarry (1919-1994), the illustrator and creator of Busytown; also one of my biggest creative influences
And finally to all of you out there reading this.
Thank you very much.
I'd like to thank my mentors at the School of Visual Arts - namely the three men known as Tom Motley, Matt Madden and Tom Hart.
More thanks go out to the following:
Andrew Chang, for teaching me to use water soluble paints
Shelley Haven, whose painting classes taught me the practical use of colors
The Fargo Public Library of Cass County, North Dakota, where much of my research was done and where I read books about how to create a children's picture book
The State of North Dakota
My fans and followers of Sunnyville Stories and all my other creative works
The inventors of iced coffee, a wonderful concoction that helps keep me creative
Richard Scarry (1919-1994), the illustrator and creator of Busytown; also one of my biggest creative influences
And finally to all of you out there reading this.
Thank you very much.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Copyright and Legal
The following is all the pertinent legal information regarding my creation, copyright, and other important material. So without further ado...
CREATED BY
MAX WEST
WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY
MAX WEST
PUBLISHED & PRODUCED BY
DIFFERENT MOUSETRAP PRESS LLC
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Copyright 2017
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The illustrations in this book were created with pen, design marker and digital design.
This book was typeset in Century.
EXCEPT AS PERMITTED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976, NO PART OF THIS WORK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL MEANS, INCLUDING THE USE OF INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS, WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.
This work is entirely fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons and names, living or dead, is purely a coincidence.
The publisher and the author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites and their content.
CREATED BY
MAX WEST
WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY
MAX WEST
PUBLISHED & PRODUCED BY
DIFFERENT MOUSETRAP PRESS LLC
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Copyright 2017
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The illustrations in this book were created with pen, design marker and digital design.
This book was typeset in Century.
EXCEPT AS PERMITTED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976, NO PART OF THIS WORK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL MEANS, INCLUDING THE USE OF INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEMS, WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNER.
This work is entirely fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons and names, living or dead, is purely a coincidence.
The publisher and the author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites and their content.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Hilda and Richie Cover
Every journey starts with a single step. And just as every children's book has beautiful artwork on the cover, so will my picture book.
I hope you enjoy this creation of mine.
Friday, February 10, 2017
Introduction
Today, I want to tell you what this Google hosted & powered blog is about.
I will be serializing an entire children's picture book on this blog for the whole world to read. It is a picture book that I have written and illustrated. Doing a picture book is something I've meant to do for ages.
The title of this work is Hilda and Richie. This is about a pair of anthropomorphic foxes that live in the tiny, fictitious country of Foxville. Hilda is a very wealthy woman who lives in a huge mansion and has millions of dollars to her name. Living with her is a small fox pup named Richie. These two will get into quite a sticky predicament and I do emphasize "sticky"...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
From now till next week on Thursday, I'll be putting up posts daily such as introductions of our stars, a title image, and so on. Then on Thursday of next week and from each Thursday on, I will share pages of illustration and text that tell the story of Hilda and Richie.
The illustrations were done by myself, a skilled artist experience in drawing comics, using drawing pens and professional design markers.
Now some of you may be wondering why am I doing this. Why am I giving away a children's picture book for free online? The idea for this came from Jason Brubaker. Brubaker serialized his entire graphic novel reMIND online for everyone to see. I'm doing this to share my work with the world, make you aware of who I am & what I do and perhaps even somehow produce an actual print edition of Hilda and Richie.
If you're interested in contacting me, my information is listed here on the blog. And now without further ado...
On this blog, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...you will be taking a trip...an adventure, perhaps. From this point onward, on this very blog, you will meet two very intrepid foxes. We hope you will travel with these foxes not only today but into the future as well...
I will be serializing an entire children's picture book on this blog for the whole world to read. It is a picture book that I have written and illustrated. Doing a picture book is something I've meant to do for ages.
The title of this work is Hilda and Richie. This is about a pair of anthropomorphic foxes that live in the tiny, fictitious country of Foxville. Hilda is a very wealthy woman who lives in a huge mansion and has millions of dollars to her name. Living with her is a small fox pup named Richie. These two will get into quite a sticky predicament and I do emphasize "sticky"...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
From now till next week on Thursday, I'll be putting up posts daily such as introductions of our stars, a title image, and so on. Then on Thursday of next week and from each Thursday on, I will share pages of illustration and text that tell the story of Hilda and Richie.
The illustrations were done by myself, a skilled artist experience in drawing comics, using drawing pens and professional design markers.
Now some of you may be wondering why am I doing this. Why am I giving away a children's picture book for free online? The idea for this came from Jason Brubaker. Brubaker serialized his entire graphic novel reMIND online for everyone to see. I'm doing this to share my work with the world, make you aware of who I am & what I do and perhaps even somehow produce an actual print edition of Hilda and Richie.
If you're interested in contacting me, my information is listed here on the blog. And now without further ado...
On this blog, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls...you will be taking a trip...an adventure, perhaps. From this point onward, on this very blog, you will meet two very intrepid foxes. We hope you will travel with these foxes not only today but into the future as well...
Thursday, February 9, 2017
About Me
My real legal name is my own business. You can call me by my professional name, Max West.
I was born in New York City on January 4, 1980. I grew up watching a lot of cable television, like HBO and Nickelodeon, where I was exposed to fantastic animation and specials. These, along with regular trips to my local library, helped to spark a spectacular imagination and an absorbing creativity in myself.
I've been doing creative things all my life. I wrote poetry in the first grade and enjoyed art classes in sixth grade. While I did not have the technical skill of other creative individuals, I had a powerful drive to keep going and unlimited imagination.
I graduated in 2003 from Baruch College in New York City with a degree in creative writing. Then in 2009, I started taking night classes at the School of Visual Arts. I learned basic drawing, painting and how to make comics.
Speaking of comics, I'm active in the small press comics scene. I have created a series titled Sunnyville Stories; that has its own blog.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my creation. Feel free to drop me a line sometime. I can be reached at maxwestart(at)gmail(dot)com or by snail mail at:
DIFFERENT MOUSETRAP PRESS LLC
1100 19TH AVENUE N, #108
UNIT J
FARGO ND 58102-2269 USA
I was born in New York City on January 4, 1980. I grew up watching a lot of cable television, like HBO and Nickelodeon, where I was exposed to fantastic animation and specials. These, along with regular trips to my local library, helped to spark a spectacular imagination and an absorbing creativity in myself.
I've been doing creative things all my life. I wrote poetry in the first grade and enjoyed art classes in sixth grade. While I did not have the technical skill of other creative individuals, I had a powerful drive to keep going and unlimited imagination.
I graduated in 2003 from Baruch College in New York City with a degree in creative writing. Then in 2009, I started taking night classes at the School of Visual Arts. I learned basic drawing, painting and how to make comics.
Speaking of comics, I'm active in the small press comics scene. I have created a series titled Sunnyville Stories; that has its own blog.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy my creation. Feel free to drop me a line sometime. I can be reached at maxwestart(at)gmail(dot)com or by snail mail at:
DIFFERENT MOUSETRAP PRESS LLC
1100 19TH AVENUE N, #108
UNIT J
FARGO ND 58102-2269 USA
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Welcome!
Good day, readers. I'm Max West and I want to welcome you to this secret project of mine. It's something that I've been working on for awhile now.
What I aim to do is something unique. On this blog, I will share with you an entire children's picture book that I have created!
Since late November, I've been posting up sketches and concept art of the two protagonists, the wealthy blue blood Hilda and the young boy Richie. Every Thursday (starting next week), I will be posting up pages with illustration and text from my debut picture book Hilda and Richie.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did creating it.
What I aim to do is something unique. On this blog, I will share with you an entire children's picture book that I have created!
Since late November, I've been posting up sketches and concept art of the two protagonists, the wealthy blue blood Hilda and the young boy Richie. Every Thursday (starting next week), I will be posting up pages with illustration and text from my debut picture book Hilda and Richie.
I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did creating it.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
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